In 1955, I went to Barcelona with my husband Harry Mathews. That’s where I saw Gaudi’s magnificent Park Güell. I met both my master and my destiny. I trembled. I knew that one day, I too would build a garden of joy. A little corner of paradise. An encounter between man and nature. Twenty-four years later, I began the greatest adventure of my life: The Tarot Garden.
It was built on the property of my friends Marella Agnelli, Carlo, and Nicola Caracciolo. They approved the original model, which was later completely changed. The Garden became much larger than my original intention. There were no time constraints, and I worked in an atmosphere of total freedom. To finance my garden, I created a perfume and some multiples. As soon as I started the garden, I realized that it would be a perilous adventure and that I would encounter many challenges along the way. […]
I made my home in the Empress card. I lived and slept inside the mother. The Empress became the center of the Garden. It was where I met with the team, where we had coffee together, where I ate my meals, and where I made the models for the other cards.
I lived alone in the Sphinx, the name we gave to the Empress.
Total immersion was the only way to create this garden. The Tarot Garden is not only my garden, it is also the garden of all those who helped me to create it.
I am the architect of the Garden, I imposed my vision because I couldn’t do otherwise. This Garden was created with great difficulty, love, crazy enthusiasm, obsession and, most importantly, nothing could have stopped me. As in all fairy tales, before finding the treasure, I encountered dragons, witches, magicians, and the angel of temperance along the way.
– Niki de Saint Phalle, excerpt from The Tarot Garden © Niki de Saint Phalle & Giulio Pietromarchi. Edition Benteli, 1997
